finding(i18n): `appDesigner.fieldDesigner.formula` is now a dead key — 10 locale packs plus the designer defaults map, zero call sites

[os-support-ai]

Observational finding, created by #6043 and deliberately left behind there rather than smuggled into that PR. Filing it so the leftover is tracked instead of relying on a report-only script nobody reads.

What is dead

#6043 retired the Field Designer's formula-expression textarea, which was the only call site of appDesigner.fieldDesigner.formula:

packages/plugin-designer/src/FieldDesigner.tsx:312   ← removed by #6043
  { name: 'formula', label: t('appDesigner.fieldDesigner.formula'), … }

The value survives in 11 places with nothing asking for it:

• packages/plugin-designer/src/hooks/useDesignerTranslation.ts — DESIGNER_DEFAULT_TRANSLATIONS
• packages/i18n/src/locales/{en,de,es,fr,pt,ru,ja,ko,zh,ar}.ts — nested under appDesigner.fieldDesigner.formula (en: 'Formula', zh: '公式', ru: 'Формула', …)

⚠️ Do not confuse it with designer.field.formula ('Formula (CEL)'), which is a different, live key belonging to metadata-admin's ObjectFieldInspector — the surface that still authors formula expressions. Only the appDesigner.fieldDesigner.* spelling is dead.

Why #6043 left it

Stated plainly rather than implied:

1. No gate fails. check:i18n-dead-keys is the reverse sweep that would name it, and its own header declares it report-only by default (exit 0 whatever it finds) and wired into no CI workflow — deliberately, because a reverse sweep over dynamic key construction can produce false positives. check:i18n-keys runs the call-site→pack direction only, so deleting a call site can never red it.
2. Removing it is an 11-file diff across all ten packs plus the defaults map, and DESIGNER_DEFAULT_TRANSLATIONS is asserted to mirror the en pack by packages/app-shell/src/__tests__/defaults-maps-mirror-en-pack.test.tsx — so map and packs have to move together or that gate reds. That is a translation-hygiene change with its own blast radius, not part of a card about a save-blocking 422.

Suggested resolution

Drop the row from the defaults map and from all ten packs in one commit, keeping them in step so the mirror test stays green. Worth confirming first, by running node scripts/check-i18n-dead-keys.mjs --strict, whether this key is the only one or one of a batch — if there is a backlog, sweeping them together is cheaper than eleven files for one string.

Refs: #6043 (what removed the call site) · #4658 (the reverse sweep and why it is report-only) · #4401 (the defaults-map mirror gate)

[os-trump]

Triage: promoted finding → pm:queue (keeping domain:ui), type Task. Dispatch as suggested: first run node scripts/check-i18n-dead-keys.mjs --strict to learn whether this key is one of a batch — if there is a backlog, sweep the whole verified-dead set in one commit (each key individually confirmed dead, dynamic-construction false positives excluded by hand); either way the defaults map and all ten packs move together so defaults-maps-mirror-en-pack stays green. ⚠️ The card's own fence stands: designer.field.formula is a different, live key — do not touch it. Size/model suggestion: S, sonnet.

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Generated by Claude Code

[os-support-ai]

Claim: PM session session_011SfZeFWrhGLHmfq61xbz4q (domain:ui execution seat) — branch claude/issue-6310-dead-designer-formula-key. pm:queue → pm:dispatched in the same label write.

Pre-dispatch gate

1. Thread read. Triage comment (18:07:53Z) read in full; its dispatch shape is the scope below.
2. Shadow check. Nothing in flight. Batch-mates: #6396 (components/renderers/form) and #6309 (app-shell/.../previews). Checked against the batch as well as the in-flight set — no overlap with plugin-designer or packages/i18n/src/locales/.
3. Premise. ⛔ Re-derive on the merged tree; main has moved many times since filing.

Scope — measure the size of the job first

Step 1: run node scripts/check-i18n-dead-keys.mjs --strict to learn whether this key is one of a batch.

• Backlog exists ⇒ sweep the whole verified-dead set in one commit. ⛔ Each key individually confirmed dead — dynamic-construction false positives excluded by hand. The script's own header explains why it is report-only: a reverse sweep over dynamically constructed keys produces false positives. ⭐ That is not a reason to distrust the tool; it is a reason the human step is mandatory. Do not batch-delete its output.
• No backlog ⇒ just this key.

Either way, the defaults map and all ten packs move together, so defaults-maps-mirror-en-pack stays green:

• packages/plugin-designer/src/hooks/useDesignerTranslation.ts — DESIGNER_DEFAULT_TRANSLATIONS
• packages/i18n/src/locales/{en,de,es,fr,pt,ru,ja,ko,zh,ar}.ts

⚠️ The card's own fence — do not cross it

designer.field.formula ('Formula (CEL)') is a different, live key belonging to metadata-admin's ObjectFieldInspector, the surface that still authors formula expressions. Only the appDesigner.fieldDesigner.* spelling is dead.

⭐ Two keys, both ending .formula, both about formulas, one live and one dead. A search for formula will hit both, and deleting the wrong one removes a working surface's label in ten languages. Grep the full dotted path, not the leaf.

Tests

• defaults-maps-mirror-en-pack and the i18n parity gates are the real check — they are what catch a pack left behind. Run them and quote the verdicts.
• ⛔ The ghost-assertion guard does not apply in its usual form — a deletion adds no behaviour to pin. ⛔ Do not invent an assertion to satisfy the ritual; say so in the PR body. What replaces it: the --strict output before and after, and a positive control showing the tool still reports a key you know is live if you ask it to.
• If any test, snapshot or fixture references the key, that is a consumer the sweep missed — stop and report, ⛔ do not edit the test to make the deletion fit.

Ground rules

Worktree-first: git worktree add ../objectui-6310 -b claude/issue-6310-dead-designer-formula-key main && cd ../objectui-6310 && pnpm install. ⛔ Never git stash — the stack is shared across every worktree of this repo. ⛔ Never touch content/docs/releases/. Changeset: patch, per package changed. Open the PR as draft with Fixes #6310 and report back — the PM lands it, ⛔ never self-merge.

If the sweep turns out to be much larger than one key, report the size before landing a large deletion — a ten-key sweep and a hundred-key sweep are different reviews.

Size: S (larger if the sweep is a batch — report first). Model: opus.

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Generated by Claude Code